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Somewhere
At some point
At around 2.40 in the morning
Sitting in my cab
I felt a form of happiness
Of self achievement
Like a happy drunk
Like I had just defeated my worst enemy in a bitter battle
And I had looked over them triumphantly
Before staggering away

Like a sadomasochist
Like a hero
I found pleasure in the aftermath of my own suffering
And I wonder
Is this what others feel?
It’s no good for me
My mind was comforting me
My eye twitches
It was a trick. A trcik of the mind
Mother mind had tried to shelter my young body, but she knows she can only keep this up for a
short while

She is cooking stones in a dark pot as my
hunger for sleep seeks satiating
I wait patiently
for nothing
The dopamine is wearing off
And it kicks back again
Triumphant! I am a hero!
Shattered once more
I am the last one sitting
And I am last to rest

Whenever I achieve a milestone I seem to get complacent. I end up getting comfortable and the incentive to grow is satiated. But whenever I’m threatened with failure – failure in achieving my ambitions, whether they are academic, physical or spiritual – I will do everything in my power to change the course of my future. I will starve myself. I will endure sleep deprivation. I will cut activities and people out of my life if they will get in the way of my goal. I can really surprise myself with my resolve and determination in those moments of my life. I am like a moth that will do all it can to get to the light, even if it means burning himself alive. Failure is not an option. The result of this approach has always been massive success.

I always ask myself during those struggling moments in my life, where I have to dig deep for my energy: ‘How amazing it is what I can do, with such little time, and with so much resolve’. I tell myself that I can use these hidden powers that jump out to save me to my maximum advantage next time. Next time, when there is not so much pressure on me, when I have more free time, I can use my abilities to get me even further in life. But then, as I have said, the complacency creeps in. And my growth slows down.

No more. No more. I don’t like it. Enough of the complacency.

I still have some of the biggest goals yet to achieve in life. They will take time and consistency; they cannot be completed in a few weeks or months. I cannot achieve my largest goals as I am now. I have to grow into a better me. There is a lot of work to do. Sitting around for the next threat of failure to rear it’s dreadful head is not going to do it for me anymore.

I have one life on this earth and I don’t want to waste the time and skill set that God’s given to me.

So, I’m getting back on the grind to become stronger. Not for fear of failure, but to achieve those things that currently seem beyond me. It’s easier said than done. But that is the point of grinding. You don’t talk about it, you just do it. There is simply no substitute for hard work. Hard work has gotten me this far. Hard work and consistency will take me further.

The phrase ‘there are only two things certain in life: death and taxes’ is wrong. There’s only one thing certain about life, and that is death. Taxes are a man-made construct that some have never paid by virtue of their age or the society in which they have lived in. Death is for everyone. I don’t care how advanced we will become – there is no cure to death. There are no death-free havens in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands.

A lot of people don’t seem to want to talk about death, maybe because they don’t want to confront themselves with the reality of their lives. That it is temporary and the end is inevitable. Some attempts have been made to celebrate how this makes life special in modern times. The ‘you only live once’ meme from a few years back was an attempt at this; a modern spin on Carpe diem (seize the day). True; life on this earth is special for it is fleeting, though the ‘you only live once’ approach to life lead to some poor attitudes towards death. People have tragically died from making rash decisions under the pretext of ‘you only live once’ as a result of car crashes and drug overdoses. This was surely not the point in that phrase, which now lays rest in the ever expanding graveyard of popular culture.

Is there a fear of death amongst us? Whilst in much of the Western world, God may be dead, this does not do much to comfort a lot of people about their deaths and whether there is an afterlife. If anything, it could add to their anxieties. What really is there after death, then? If God and religion has lost its importance in our society, and with it, the absolute truth of an afterlife as advocated by many religions, what do a lot of people think of death?

Is it that we go into a deep sleep for eternity, never to awake? Do we cease to exist forever? Thinking about this for long enough has always left me with a particular feeling of absolute doom. There is no solace in these thoughts, unless I assume you are someone who lives such a horrible existence that an eternal sleep is a welcome idea. Can you imagine nothingness for eternity? If such a situation exists, when you die, the whole universe dies. Nothing else exists so far as you are concerned, and in a way, nothing has meaning. Surely it is terrifying to consider yourself a blip in the world?

The strange thing is, despite the fear of this thought while living, I would not be afraid if this was the reality of death, because I would not even have a consciousness to acknowledge that I had died to begin with. I would not have a consciousness of anything, because I would not exist anymore. And that loss of consciousness means no fear. But reflecting upon this scenario as I am, with my consciousness currently intact, makes me quite sad. What is our purpose in life if it all ends? Is there any purpose?

It is interesting to think about. I guess it’s one of those things one can only experience. And we will all experience it. No matter our beliefs, we all share a common mortality. It makes me feel closer to you.

I’d like to believe there is some sort of positive afterlife and maybe this is part of why I believe in an afterlife; because it’s what I’d like. Though I have to admit, even eternal life is a difficult concept to grasp.

I recently purchased Penguin’s Little Black Classics Box set: it contains 80 books from the Penguin’s Little Black Classics series; featuring short works by a wide variety of authors.

One of the books I have read is The Dolphins, the Whales and the Gudgeon by Aesop. Aesop was a well known Greek fabulist and storyteller born around 620 BCE. It is believed, from the writings of Aristotle and Herodotus, that Aesop was a slave who was later freed.

For works that were written more than 2,000 years ago, I find they still have a resonance with me today. Here are some fables that I particularly enjoyed reading:

The House-ferret and Aphrodite

A house-ferret, having fallen in love with a handsome young man, begged Aphrodite, goddess of love, to change her into a human girl. The goddess took pity on this passion and changed her into a gracious young girl. The young man, when he saw her, fell in love with her and led her to his home. As they rested, Aphrodite, wanting to see if in changing body the house-ferret had also changed in character, released a mouse in the middle of the room. The house-ferret, forgetting her present condition, leapt up from the bed and chased the mouse in order to eat it. The indignant goddess changed her back to her former state.

I find this fable quite funny, given the image of an otherwise dignified young lady chasing a mouse. More importantly, the fable speaks some truth in the modern world. People are always looking to change their appearance as we are often judged by our appearances before our actual character is taken into consideration. We have to remember changing how we look does not mean we have changed as people. To this extent, the fable provides useful. Whilst it is reasonable to judge people based on how they look (for example, someone’s hygiene may reveal something about their character), the truth of the fable is that despite this possibility of someone’s image giving indications of their character, it is simply not enough.

The Dolphins, the Whales and the Gudgeon

Some dolphins and some whales were engaged in battle. As the fight went on and became desperate, a gudgeon poked his head above the surface of the water and tried to reconcile them. But one of the dolphins retorted:

‘It is less humiliating for us to fight to the death between ourselves than to have you for a mediator’

A gudgeon is a small fish. Similar to the dolphins and the whales, it is human nature for our egos to be thrown away before those bigger than ourselves, or before those whom we hold in high esteem. Despite the truth a gudgeon may speak, ego clouds us. If the gudgeon is given the support of sharks, the gudgeon’s voice may be heard. But who then is the real mediator? The gudgeon or the sharks? Or is it both? To see it another way, it may just be that the threat of sanction is what makes the law powerful rather than the reasonableness of the law itself. The nature of human beings in this respect; the wish to maintain our pride and the dislike of sanction; speaks truth to all forms of human interaction, including international politics.

The Camel Seen for the First Time

When they first set eyes on a camel, men were afraid. Awed by its huge size, they ran away. But when, in time, they realised its gentleness, they plucked up enough courage to approach it. Then, gradually realising that it had no temper, they went up to it and grew to hold it in such contempt that they put a bridle on it and gave it to the children to lead.

It is worth noting that Penguin summarised this fable as the following: “This fable shows that habit can overcome the fear which awesome things inspire.” I disagree with this assessment. Maybe I am misanthropic, but I find this fable speaks of the taking nature of humanity. Once we know something will not cause us harm, we come to abuse that thing beyond reasonableness. This can be shown through our approach to rapid industrialisation without immediate concern for the environment and in some cases the maltreatment of animals. Even in the historical context of human beings’ approach to other humans; brutal acts of colonialism have been made possible because of the abuse of others’ gentle human nature, coupled with the power of holding advanced military technology. The temptation to abuse when we have the option to do so is often too difficult to resist.

The Wolf and the Lamb

A wolf saw a lamb drinking at a stream and wanted to devise a suitable pretext for devouring it. So, although he was himself upstream, he accused the lamb of muddying the water and preventing him from drinking. The lamb replied that he only drank with the tip of his tongue and that, besides, being downstream he couldn’t muddy the water upstream. The wolf’s stratagem having collapsed, he replied:

‘But last year you insulted my father.’

‘I wasn’t even born then,’ replied the lamb

So the wolf resumed:

‘Whatever you say to justify yourself, I will eat you all the same.’

Those who seek to carry out harm and evil will do so no matter how weak their argument is, or how strong the argument of their victims to protect themselves. This speaks true for bullies on an individual level and for aggressive nation states throughout the history of international politics. Again, this presumes a darker and more ruthless understanding of human nature where the good and innocent among us (who are often also the most gentle) must be protected with adequate resistance.

The Jackdaw and the Ravens

A jackdaw who grew larger in size than the other jackdaws disdained their company. So he took himself off to the ravens and asked if he could share his life with them. But the ravens, unfamiliar with his shape and his voice, mobbed him and chased him away. So, rejected by them, he went back to be with the jackdaws. but the jackdaws, outraged at his defection, refused to have him back. And thus he was an outcast from the society of both jacks and ravens.

This fable speaks volumes for the immigrants of the world. Those who have left their countries for another are seen as foreigners by those belonging to the new country; whilst those from their home country dislike the immigrants for leaving them, which they have taken as contempt. Immigrants and the children of immigrants live twinned lives. As the son of immigrants to the West, I do not feel like I am truly part of the West or the East. I live between these worlds, suspended between the two. There are blessings in this experience, but like the jackdaw, there is also a form of loneliness.

Through his fables, Aesop’s has been able to explain themes in human nature and human experience that certainly still ring true today.

Despite our similarities, people are certainly different. This truism has always made me think about the self, and who we are on an individual level. Why are some more drawn towards logic, others more emotional? Why are some more “shy” and others outgoing? Why do some people connect with ease whilst others just cannot get along?

I want to briefly explore and share just one way in which human beings are categorised. Such attempts to categorise us into groups aim to often explain why we do what we do or why we act a certain way. This assumes we are predestined to have a certain disposition, or at least, our dispositions can be neatly categorised into a certain identifiable “type” of person. Although I strongly resist that humans can be categorised so easily and am aware of the commercialisation of this area, I’ve always found attempts to understand human behaviour pretty interesting.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

The MBTI is quite a popular personality test devised by Isabel-Briggs Myers and her mother Katharine Cook Briggs. The test builds upon the foundation that there is such a thing as psychologically-based personality types as initially suggested by psychoanalyst Carl Jung. It places you into one of sixteen personality types, with four specific preferences, each of which represents a letter.

The first preference to consider – Extroverted (E) or Introverted (I)? An extrovert gets their energy from action and interacting whilst an introvert expends their energy through action. Introverts often need more time alone to re-energise. As a stereotype, an extrovert likes going out more than an introvert. Even more of a stereotype is the idea that introverts are more likely to come across as shy and quiet.

I would fit as an introvert, so I’ve got “I” as the first letter. I’ve had people tell me they consider me an extrovert, though I assume that comes from them thinking that introverts are all quiet, shy people. I’m not shy, and I’m quite outspoken when I’m talking about things I care about. I do however get tired interacting with people for too long and often need time alone to think and re-energise.

The second preference to consider – Intuitive (N) or Sensing (S)?People who prefer intuition are more likely to gather or trust information which is less dependent on the senses, such as through patterns, symbols, wider contexts and hidden meanings. By contrast, preferring sensing means trusting information rooted in the five senses, with an emphasis on details and facts and rejection of hunches. N’s reflect more on ideas and possibilities, whilst S-types are more interested in past or present facts. As a general example, do you see the details in the art (S) or do you think more about what the art represents (N)?

I lean more towards “N”. Whilst I value facts and details, I much prefer discussing theory and am more inclined than the average person to trust my intuition about things. From my own experience talking to N and S types respectively, I think I’ve found it easier dancing from topic to topic with intuitive people and have sometimes found people who happened to be S-types to be more resistant to or less fascinated with ideas and theories. This is not always the case, however.

The third preference to consider – Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)? People who are thinking dominant are often impartial and impersonal when making decisions and tend to prefer looking for logical explanations and solutions to things. The stereotype is a cold, logical person who does not allow their feelings to get in the way. By contrast, those who have the feeling preference may come across as more people oriented and make decisions taking their feelings and the feelings of others into account. The stereotype associated with F types is that they may come across as too soft or biased because of their resistance to being wholly objective about people. The common example is: If there is someone who stole in a shop, but it turned out they had 2 children and were widowed, as the manager what would you do? A T would likely say: hand them over to the police, because they have committed a crime. An F may say: be merciful; or even still, ask what they stole, as if the stealing of essentials, compared to alcohol will result in a different answer.

I received the result of being a Feeler. I am more likely to exercise mercy when placed in such situations as described above. I have no problem with this and find that being wholly objective in all situations when it comes to people may actually be quite negative, despite some obvious benefits. I also strongly disagree that humans can be wholly objective in all cases, regardless of whatever result one would get.

The final preference to consider – Perceiving (P) or Judging (J)? P and J relate to the way in which you organise your life. Those who prefer flexibility, who may be more likely to be late to things rather than early and who conflate work and play are more likely to be P. Those who prefer having things decided in advance, who prefer getting work done before play and who try to avoid getting close or going over deadlines are more likely to be J’s. This is probably the hardest preference to choose for me, though on the balance of things, because I dislike multi-tasking and rather prefer things to be planned in advance, I would lean towards being a J.

The End result – your MBTI typeAt the end of this, you have a four letter type; in my case INFJ. From there you can look into the type specifically with all of the various articles online and see if it matches who you are. If it does, it could offer you advice on your strengths, weaknesses and what may work best for you when it comes to forming relationships, approaching work and much more. There are also lists of celebrities and historical figures who have the same type as you which may be fun to look through. Famous INFJs apparently include Mahatma Gandhi, Plato, Jung himself, Simone de Beauvoir, but also Hitler and Osama Bin Laden…

The dangers of “Typism” and Personality typesBefore I end this article, it is worth mentioning two issues to consider. The first is the danger of typism. This comes with other personality based tests and typification tools, such as star-signs. One may start judging others negatively, or even positively simply based on their personality type. This is dangerous and ultimately all people are complex and different, despite whatever “type” they can be categorised into. The same goes for the margin of error with such tests, as well as the notion that all people really can be categorised into a box.

With these things in mind, the MBTI still offers an extra way of viewing yourself and may offer useful suggestions for self improvement and development.

No matter what you do, your quality of sleep is likely to have an impact on your performance and well-being. When I was a student, I often experienced fatigue during the day and I attributed part of that to my sleep. I was sleeping anywhere from 4-6 hours on most weekdays, nightowling, and I’d sleep in on the weekends to make up for the deprivation. It was during this point in my life I decided to become more interested in sleep. I wanted to learn more about sleep so I could function better.

Having woken up early one day to study, I remember seeing Nick Littlehales (a self-styled ‘elite sports sleep coach’) on the TV in the morning talking about sleep. His interview seemed to reveal nothing I didn’t already know and he finished by promoting his new book.

Oh I see how it is, I thought to myself. I threw the remote away feeling frustrated because I had waited a good half an hour to listen to the interview, and got on with my day.

A few days later I found myself looking for books on sleep online and came across ‘Sleep: The Myth of 8 Hours, the Power of Naps and the New Plan to Recharge Your Body and Mind’ by Nick Littlehales. Despite the interview, I decided to buy it.

Skipping over some obvious information that is within the book and product promotions, I can say I learned some new things about sleep. Here’s what I’ve learned having read the book and performed some extra independent research:

1. Blue light keeps you awake and alert and daylight has a lot of it

A lot of people talk about how blue light from our phones or computers is ruining our sleep. That’s true to some extent; they’re bad during the night because they reduce melatonin production (which is supposed to help us sleep). Blue light is fine during the day, as is daylight. Daylight suppresses melatonin and so getting a lot of daylight helps to throw off the grogginess from waking. It’s a bit obvious when you think about it, but I personally didn’t appreciate the importance of opening my curtains and bathing in the daylight or actually going outside. Daylight is better than checking your phone in the morning too, as the first few minutes from waking are similar to drunkenness – I’d rather not be texting anyone in that state…

2. It’s more about when you wake up rather than when you sleep

It’s important to have a consistent wake up time, even on weekends. This helps to keep a consistent body-clock (which is naturally aligned with the rise and fall of the sun, among other factors). Sleeping at a consistent time is beneficial but not as important providing one makes up for any sleep lost in the week. This is good news for the night owl. Sleeping any later than around 2.30 am is a losing battle however, because our peak urge to sleep dips after this point.

3. Do not become a caffeine addict

Caffeine (especially coffee) was historically used by many cultures as an enhancer for intense spiritual study. In the modern world, caffeinated drinks are often used just to keep us awake. Tolerance develops with constant use and caffeine has a half-life in adults of 4-6 hours which could impact your sleep. Using caffeine infrequently as a performance enhancer is a better way to approach it. The UK Food Standards Agency suggests no more than 400mg of caffeine should be consumed daily for adults.

4. Sleep is in 90 Minute cycles…

Sleep is in 90 minute cycles. The typical cycle is as such:

non-REM stages (about 80%): We start with the interim between sleep and being conscious, then we move into light sleep where information is consolidated (the longest part of the non-REM stage) and then deep sleep, where a lot of physical restoration occurs.

REM (about 20%): We then have REM sleep which is when we dream.

We then momentarily wake up and the cycle repeats.

The point is therefore counting back in 90 minute cycles from the point you want to wake up to see how many cycles of sleep you want to get. 5 cycles a day is ideal, or 7 hours 30 minutes. This may not always be possible; but getting around 30-35 sleep cycles a week should be possible with a sleep schedule that adds extra sleep cycles on weekends for example by going to bed earlier, or through naps, which I’ll now come on to.

5. Consider a nap during the day

Historically, naps were a frequently observed by many societies. Other than the siesta, naps are often associated as something older people do in the modern western world. In fact, naps are a wonderful way to catch up on sleep for people of all ages and have been proven to enhance focus and memory processing.

Naps may not be possible during weekdays where a lot of people are working during the day and lunch breaks seem quite short on their own. The weekend may allow for napping however. In any case, a nap can be as short as 30 minutes or even less. Even if one does not fully fall asleep, there are still memory processing benefits (because of potential light sleep) and psychological benefits in isolating oneself from the world.

When I decide to nap, I give myself anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. It’s suggested one should nap somewhere between 1-3pm because that is when the natural urge to sleep is the strongest (it makes sense why people may feel sleepy around lunch-time). I have tried 5-7pm which is when the urge peaks again, but if this is close to your regular sleep time, limiting the nap to less than an hour is suggested. One may feel a bit groggy upon waking from a nap. It doesn’t happen much to me, but I’ve heard consuming a small amount of caffeine just before napping can deal with this.

6. Add consistency to your day and night

As our bodies like consistency, being too inconsistent with eating, drinking or exercise can hinder your body clock. Regarding food, I now never skip breakfast – even if it means eating something very light – and I try not to eat anything too heavy 2-3 hours before my sleep time. It’s also useful to eat more foods with tryptophan, such as bananas and potatoes, as they increase serotonin production, which aids melatonin production. Exercising regularly benefits ones quality of sleep, though it’s worth noting that exercising too close to your sleep time will affect your ability to sleep.

7. Circadian rhythms!

I have focused more on actions to take, but circadian rhythms are worth mentioning for those who want to research further into sleep; a lot of of it is useful in understanding the tips shared in this post. It has to do with the relationship between our internal body clock and external environment, the most notable external feature being daylight. It’s useful if you want to look into different peak times for alertness, blood pressure, urge to sleep and many other biological activities. I’d suggest thefollowing link for a useful introduction.

Lucid dreaming is something I’ve been aware of for several years now, but for many folks, “lucid dreaming” doesn’t ring a bell.

For movie lovers, lucid dreaming is similar to the film ‘Inception’, in that one has the ability to be aware that they are in a dream, whilst still dreaming. After this realisation (becoming ‘lucid’), the dreamer may consciously manipulate their dream world. They can fly, shape-shift, fight zombies – the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. The main differences between Inception and the reality of lucid dreaming however, is that there is no ‘shared dreaming’ world (dreams are an individualised experience) and dying in a dream does not mean dying in reality (thank goodness).

Lucid dreaming has been practised for centuries, often with mystical connotations, although it was not until the 1980s that psychophysiologist Stephen LaBerge conducted scientific studies on the phenomenon. LaBerge essentially confirmed the reality of lucid dreaming and has since published several books on the topic, along with methods to induce and control them.

Some people may argue that the idea one can be in a dream and have full consciousness is unlikely. They may argue that I may just be “dreaming that I am aware of being in a dream”. Having practised lucid dreaming myself, I know it is “real”. Regardless of whether I am dreaming that I know I’m in a dream or not, I have experienced what it feels like to be alert in my dream and it is certainly a different feeling to being in a non-lucid dream. In a non-lucid dream, I might walk with someone, trying to get to class, even though that someone is supposed to be abroad and I’m no longer a student, and I’ll accept it all as absolute truth. In a lucid dream however, I can realise the logical gaps in the dream and then I can do what I want. In a non-lucid dream, I might be afraid of the crazy murderer that chases me. In a lucid dream, with sufficient control, I could turn them into a cake and eat them. Therein lies the difference, my friend.

Lucid dreaming – How can I do it?There are many methods to induce lucid dreams, from willingly inducing sleep paralysis, to post-waking methods. I would suggest beginners start off with the Dream Induced Lucid Dream (‘DILD’) method. This means going to bed, sleeping, and at some point whilst dreaming, you become lucid. It is the most common and arguably easiest method.

These are the steps I would suggest you take:

1. Keep a daily dream journalFirstly, you want to be more aware of your dreams. Naturally, our brains wipe out dream memories after we wake as the day goes on. There’s a smart reason for this – we do not want to get reality confused with dreaming. That’s also why we might say some days that we don’t remember what we dreamt about last night, or we might say we didn’t dream at all. In reality, it’s common for us to have several dreams a night.

Within the first 30 minutes of waking, try and think about the dreams you had that night. They will come to mind and soon you’ll be able to count them in succession. Write down what you can, it should not take more than 10 minutes. Over time, your dream recall will become more detailed and you’ll remember more dreams. During my time, I’ve remembered having upwards of 5 dreams some nights and remembering their order and what they were about. Given how private dreams can be, I’d suggest a computer document if a physical journal isn’t ideal for you.

The more you give value to your dreams, the easier it is to be aware of your dreams when you’re dreaming.

2. Develop a ‘reality check’A reality check is something you do to test whether you are in reality, or actually in a dream. In the film Inception, the protagonist uses a spinning top totem as a test. If the spinning top spins perpetually, it’s a dream. If it does not, and eventually stops rolling, it tells him he is in reality. The idea of a reality check is that it is done in reality with frequency and because of this habit, it may be done when dreaming to test whether you are dreaming or not. If successful in a dream, it will alert you that you are dreaming.

A downside for keeping spinning tops is that they can get lost. Often a surefire reality check for many lucid dreamers is instead checking ones hand. My hand has four fingers and one thumb. If I press a finger into the palm of my hand, it doesn’t go through the other end. In a dream, looking at your hand often reveals flaws. You may notice you have six fingers, or two fingers, or that actually can push your finger through your palm. I check my hands once every few hours and it only takes a few seconds. There is no magic formula, so long as the reality check is relatively consistent, it will be useful.

Find what kind of reality check would work for you, or even perform several methods. Another common reality check is holding your nose and trying to breathe in through it. Often in dreams, one can still breathe in air despite holding the nose.

Something will be inconsistent with reality. When you notice this, you will have a ‘eureka’ moment and become lucid in your dream.

There we go, that’s a lucid dream.

3. Staying in the dream and increasing clarityOf course, to maximise your exploration of lucid dreaming, becoming lucid is only part of the experience. Often the realisation of being lucid brings a lot of excitement. Adrenaline surges and uncontrolled excitement are dream killers. It may wake you up, thus taking you out of the dream. Often lucid dreams can also be initially blurry, which can also throw you out of the dream if you lose total focus and think about waking up.

When you become lucid, stay calm. Breathe slowly and deeply if you can. What you should do is look at your hands again, or focus on an object until it becomes clearer. This will keep you grounded in the dream (known as ‘anchoring’). Other anchoring methods include affirmations, such as saying ‘I am anchored in this dream’ or something similar to tell yourself to stay inside it. Some lucid dreamers have benefited from spinning around in the dream, as this brings greater body consciousness within the dream for the purpose of anchoring.

Any of these methods or a combination should help. The main point is to try and stay in the dream and to stay focused. Over time and with more lucid dreams, you’ll become even more comfortable about that ‘eureka’ moment and be able to stay in the dream for longer.

4. Dream controlWhilst being aware that you’re in your own dream world is fascinating, controlling the dream can be even more exciting. When you are lucid, after anchoring yourself into the dream, you should think about dream control. This means bending your dream according to your own will. There’s different ways of seeing this:

a) Minimal control (just chillin’): This would mean moving about in the dream and saying what you’d like in the dream, whilst maintaining consciousness that you’re actually in a dream. It involves doing normal things one would do in reality and requires little imagination and experience. Surprisingly, this is still exhilarating when you realise you’re in your own world.

b) Medium control (controlling the narrative): It is likely you will become lucid halfway through a dream you’re having. There is likely already a plot going on. You might have for example been dreaming of camping with friends. You could decide to stay in the dream and simply play along with it, but this time knowing full well that it’s a dream. You might introduce new ideas to the your dream character friends or change something you don’t like about the dream, and essentially take a backseat with the ability to manipulate as and when necessary. This requires a bit more control, because it could involve say, imagining you’ve found treasure under the ground or changing your friends’ clothes a different colour. Stuff like this requires volition and will to manipulate the dream.

c) High control (Doing your own thing): You could decide to abandon the dream narrative all together, and instead jump up, start flying towards space and relaxing on Mars whilst you eat a unique chocolate you’ve just invented. Here, clearly, there are no limits. You could essentially do whatever your mind can imagine. This ability of full manipulation can be tricky to do but can be done with experience.

Use your will: I’m often asked ‘well, that’s all well and good, but how do you manipulate the dream?’ And the answer is quite simply by having volition. Imagine it, believe it will happen and then do it. It may not be easy at first. I’ve had experiences for example where I’ve wanted to spawn special drinks out of nowhere but instead I spawned common juice drinks. It’s cool, but it’s not what I was looking for. One of the easiest and common things to try out is flying. If you become lucid and anchored, lift your feet and think about wanting to fly. It’s an amazing experience and most people can do this in lucid dreams.

Have confidence and over time you’ll find you can do whatever you put your mind to in a dreamworld of which you own.

Concluding ThoughtsSo, that’s a summary of lucid dreaming for you, but this is a discipline with a wealth of information available. http://Dreamviews.com for example is a good free online resource if you’re still interested. I’ll also likely post more on lucid dreaming in the future!